Two Starfleet Officers, One Bottle, and a Catwalk
by Nightengale
Summary: Uhura goes to the engineering deck in need of some alcohol from Scotty, with that a friendship is formed only made stronger by their experiences together, through good and bad, laughs and cries. --Friendship fic, something else we need more of!--


It started, as these sorts of things sometimes do, with whiskey. Rather, Uhura needed some whiskey, and who better to get it from than the resident Scotsman?

It began initially with Spock and McCoy having a conversation, and by conversation she meant argument, over their last away mission. In truth, Uhura had not heard what sparked the conversation but only became aware of it once McCoy began yelling about Spock's apparent lack of skill in relating to any life forms other than Vulcans and one-celled organisms with limited thought processes. It was then that their dashing Captain Kirk jumped in.

"I think we all need a break!"

"A break, sir?" Spock replied.

"Yep! I say the three of us take a little away mission down to the planet."

Uhura turned around in her seat, noticing Sulu and Chekov looking over their shoulders at the scene as well.

"Sir," she piped up, "weren't we planning on leaving orbit and proceeding to the trade negotiations with-"

"That can wait!" Kirk cut her off.

Nyota gritted her teeth and tried not to call their commanding officer an infantile twat.

"Jim, why would we want to go down to the planet?" McCoy said with annoyance. "There wasn't anything down there."

"I have to concur with Doctor McCoy," Spock said, arms clasped behind his back. "There would be no purpose in our descending to the planet again."

"Aw, come on!" Kirk said, slapping Spock on the shoulder. "Consider it a bonding exercise."

"Oh dear god…" McCoy groaned, putting a hand over his face.

"Captain…" Uhura tried to interject, but Kirk blazed on.

"A chance for three of the Enterprise's senior officers to get to know each other better!"

"I know you just fine, Jim," McCoy grumbled, though the tone of his voice betrayed defeat.

"Captain," Uhura said more insistently, standing up from her post. "We have a time frame we need to meet. We can't just sit around here."

Kirk smiled in his I'm-the-captain-I-know-best way at her and waved a dismissive hand. "Oh relax, Uhura. They'll be fine without us if we're late a day or two."

"Or two!?" Uhura and McCoy both snapped in disbelief.

"Jim," Spock said, causing the Captain to turn with a smile at the use of his first name. "Perhaps if you deem this excursion so important, we should begin without delay so we will return within a timely fashion."

"What!?" Uhura and McCoy snapped again.

Kirk clapped his hands together. "That's the spirit! It'll be a boy's trip off ship. There are definitely some cliffs down there which would make for some great mountain climbing."

"Tell me you did not just saying 'mountain climbing,'" McCoy said, grabbing Kirk's arm.

The Captain just nodded with a grin, turning out of the Doctor's grasp, and heading toward the turbolift.

"Commander," Uhura said to Spock. He turned and looked at her. "Sir, you have to agree this is a waste of time."

"Perhaps," he said. "But it is what the Captain seems intent to do."

"Commander…" Uhura said again, feeling the urge to hit something.

Spock smiled ever so slightly at her then turned to join the other two at the turbolift. Uhura's mouth fell open and she sat back down with a thump. They could not be serious. They couldn't just leave the ship and go on a joy ride. But when Chekov announced that shuttle two was heading down to the planet she had to admit defeat. It was fairly ridiculous and for some reason was infuriating her!

It was because of this that at the end of her shift Nyota ended up down in engineering looking for an alcohol fix.

"Mr. Scott?" Uhura called into the depths of engineering. "Lt. Commander, are you there?"

It was quiet apart from the hum of the engines. By now it was into gamma shift so there were few crewmen around.

"Scotty?" she called again, walking slowly.

She wasn't even sure where to look for him down here. Also, to be honest, she was beginning to doubt her own sanity with this plan. Perhaps Kirk was rubbing off on her too much. She barely knew Scotty apart from his first dramatic entrance to the Enterprise way back when they were all originally thrown together. So, it did seem a little presumptuous of her to be coming down here now, skulking around to bum some of his alcohol.

Nyota was about to turn back and head to her quarters when she heard a noise behind her.

"Lt. Uhura," Scotty said, coming into view as she turned around. "Sorry, I dinna hear you at first."

"Oh, well, I…" Uhura replied, trailing off, suddenly feeling very stupid for even being down there.

Scotty grinned and walked over to her.

"Now, you look like a lady who is in need of a drink."

She couldn't stop herself from laughing. "Well, yes, I admit that is actually why I came down here in the first place."

Scotty barked a laugh and waved a hand for her to follow him.

"Now that's what I like: a woman who knows what she wants."

Nyota stopped. "I don't mean to be-"

"Oh stop," Scotty interrupted her and took hold of her arm. "I've got the whiskey to spare and you look like a good cause."

Uhura thought for a moment that maybe he was flirting with her and considered making a run for it. However, Scotty simply led her to a fairly empty corner of the engineering deck and opened up a compartment in the wall. What had looked like just one of the many storage sections of this area turned out to be the Enterprise bar, at least the best one Nyota felt there had to be on the ship.

"Oh my god…" she said, unable to stop herself gasping at the five shelves worth of liquor in front of them.

Scotty looked back at her with a grin. He turned and bowed briefly, putting up his hands toward the bottles.

"There was no way I was leaving Earth again after being on that snow block of a planet without a few comforts of home."

Nyota grinned and stepped up beside him, looking at all the bottles. There were more whiskeys than she knew existed, as well as a good deal of scotch. Near the top she saw some clear bottles of vodka as well as rum and Romulan ale. There were also a few which contained liquids she could not identify, one in particular which was a light violet shade.

"I'm not sure all of these are legal," she said with a quirk of her lips.

He turned and looked at her. "Definitely not."

The two of them ended up with two glasses, one bottle, and a catwalk to sit on under the hand rail, their feet dangling off the edge.

"And then I get assigned to Delta Vega with Keenser- who's already been there two months- with not a bottle or packet of ham to tide me over."

Uhura snorted and took a gulp from her glass, hissing at the sharp taste.

"So, how long were you there?"

"I was getting close to seven months when the Captain dropped in on me. I've no doubt Starfleet would have left me there to rot if he hadn't come by."

"And the dog?"

Scotty just laughed and they both took another gulp of the whiskey. Picking up the bottle, Scotty poured them both some more.

"So," Scotty said, turning to look at her side-long, "tough night on the bridge?"

Nyota chuckled softly. "The Captain took Commander Spock and Doctor McCoy down to the planet for a boys' trip."

"Oh? Hasn't there already been an away mission down there?"

"Oh yes," Uhura said, taking another drink. "The Captain wanted to mountain climb."

Scotty gave her an incredulous look. She nodded and shrugged.

"I think he just wanted to go play."

"Sounds like the Captain," Scotty said.

"And Spock and Doctor McCoy hardly fought him over it," she said with a petulant tone then added. "Well, the Doctor fought…"

Suddenly Scotty downed the rest of his glass and looked at her. "So 'the boys' are planet-side now, aye? Wanted to go, did you?"

Nyota scoffed. "No, it just… it just drives me nuts when he does things like this."

"Which one? The Captain or your boyfriend?"

Nyota gave him a sharp look but he only smirked at her and raised his eyebrows, waiting for her to speak. She rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Both."

Scotty laughed and raised his glass to her. "Well, then drinks to you, lass."

Nyota could not help but laugh along with him. She lifted her glass and they toasted, knocking the rest of their whiskey back.

With that, a bond was formed, and by the time Nyota returned to her quarters in a warm drunken state, she didn't care at all about what had happened earlier on the bridge.

* * *

It turned out Uhura and Scotty had a lot they could talk about, one thing being language. Scotty liked to tell her how spoken language was not the only one out there. In fact, in his field it was rarely about what anyone said out loud. It was about what the ship said, what she tried to tell him.

"I just know how she runs," Scotty said as they walked through the tall supports. "She's my lady." He grinned. "I know how she sounds, how she moves, and I can always tell when something's not right."

Uhura nodded, looking up as they walked slowly around. Scotty kept touching random parts of the ship as they walked, pointing to things that 'talked' to him.

"She lets me know when something is wrong, when the warp core is off or if there's a wee hiccup in the transporters."

"But how can you tell that?" Uhura said, trying to understand. "Languages have common connections like sentence structure, how verbs are used, similar base sounds- but you don't have that with a ship. It's not speech."

He turned and looked at her. "Oh, its speech, all right. All ships have a different dialect; it's just the base language yea need to know."

Uhura sighed. She had to admit, it was a sort of language she did not understand.

"Keenser!" Scotty shouted suddenly and Uhura turned in the direction Scotty was looking.

Keenser was high above them, sitting in the crux of one tall pole and another support. He looked away from the PADD in his hand and down at them at Scotty's shout.

"Don't start!" he snapped back at Scotty.

"Yea can't go around like you're a monkey!" Scotty said.

"I'm not in the way."

"You're mad is what you are," Scotty said, looking at Uhura and rolling his eyes.

Uhura laughed and crossed her arms. "You know the ship's language but you can't talk to your own crewmen?"

He scoffed. "My lady comes first."

Nyota had to smile.

* * *

"So, any chatter from the planet, Lieutenant?" Kirk said, turning his chair toward her.

"Are you asking me to spy?" Uhura said with a small smile.

"Yes."

She heard Spock clear his throat behind her.

"Oh, all right, Spock," the Captain said. "Shall we organize an away mission? See what they're all about?"

"From what I am hearing there is a vibrant city life down there," Uhura said. "A lot of talk about shipments and trade."

"Captain," Scotty said as he suddenly burst onto the bridge. "One of my engineers happened to be scanning the planet…"

Uhura looked over at him and saw the smile in his eyes. By 'happened to be scanning' he certainly meant 'looking for things I want.' He grinned at her quickly then looked back at Kirk.

"She found dilithium deposits which we could really use some of- if we can get them. So, what do you think?"

He was bouncing on his heels looking frankly excited. Uhura bit her lip so as to not start giggling at the school-boy glee of the Scotsman.

"Well!" Kirk said, standing from his chair. "Looks like now we have a reason to go be explorers."

"And merchants?" Sulu retorted.

The Captain pointed at him and winked. "You bet. And Mr. Scott?" Kirk said, turning his pointing finger around to the Chief Engineer. "You are coming along."

"Fabulous," Scotty said with a nod, then shambled over to Uhura's station, leaning back against the console.

"Looks like I get to go on a boy's trip," he whispered.

Nyota could not stop herself laughing that time, and shoved him to the side. Spock looked over with a quizzical expression, causing them both to only laugh more.

* * *

It was friendship before Nyota even realized it; a drink, a chat, then to meals in the mess hall and hidden jokes sent over the comms. It wasn't until she had this friendship with Scotty that Uhura even realized how she hadn't really made friendships on the ship. She had joked with Kirk before and she loved Spock but this was different. This was a friendship without rank getting in the way or work looming in the background. Scotty and she were just friends.

"Sometimes I just want to hit my head on my console," Uhura said, twirling the liquid around in her glass.

Scotty only laughed from where he lay, his back on the catwalk and a glass resting on his chest.

"I love that I am stationed on the bridge, of course. I love being the first line of communication with new alien species; it is very exciting. But sometimes The Boys are just too much."

After their first drinking night together Uhura and Scotty had dubbed the trio of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy- 'The Boys.' It seemed rather apropos as the three of them appeared to have become the leading pack of the ship. Plus, the three of them were increasingly doing most things together, not to mention taking over every away mission even if Doctor McCoy did grumble about it every time.

"Like Spock and Doctor McCoy. I don't know why they are getting into arguments more and more. Half of the time it's over nothing at all!"

"Perhaps it's just how they relate."

Uhura pursed her lips. "You'd think Spock would see the logic in stopping them."

"Aye, but McCoy starts them up again."

Uhura snorted then took a sip of her drink.

"Plus," Scotty said. "I think Spock enjoys them. I've seen them go at it before and yea have to admit that it is rather funny to watch McCoy get all wound up."

Uhura pursed her lips. "Maybe."

"Maybe?"

"And then there's the Captain."

"Oh boy." Scotty put his hands over his eyes.

"He keeps trying to get to know Spock, like they're going to be best friends."

"It may be working," Scotty said, moving his hands from his face and peeking at her.

She gave him a sharp look then sighed.

"I still want to strangle him sometimes," Uhura muttered.

"Cause he's trying to steal your man?"

She scoffed. "Please."

* * *

The mess hall was an ideal place for gossip. One could say that it was in fact the gossip hub of the entire ship. Everyone was in there at some point during their day. Everyone had a chance to relax there, to see their friends, and to talk. So, of course, it was awash with the news of every rumor, thought, fact, falsehood, and scandal of the ship.

Even Uhura was not above of a bit of ship news, as she preferred to call it, from time to time.

"That cannot be true," Nurse Chapel said.

Sulu just nodded and pointed with his piece of bread. "I said it all along that Johnson and Berkley were made for each other."

"But she's an engineer…" Chapel said with slight disgust.

"Oy!" Scotty snapped. "What's so wrong with engineers then? And Berkley is a fine lass so don't you be saying any of that, Miss Nurse."

Chapel huffed at him. "Yes, but Johnson's an ensign communications officer. What have they got to talk about?"

Uhura and Scotty both choked on their food laughing. Sulu gave Chapel a look and shook his head.

"You need to come out of sick bay more."

"Juvenile…" she muttered.

"I've heard some rumors about you two," Sulu said, once Scotty and Uhura had calmed down again.

"Oh?" Uhura said twirling her pasta on her plate. "Are we having an affair?"

"Are you?"

"Not today," Scotty quipped.

"Were you yesterday?" Sulu replied with mirth.

"We never got around to it yesterday," Scotty said, "maybe tomorrow."

Uhura laughed once and nodded as if confirming the plan.

"Ridiculous," Chapel said, smiling as she stood up, her meal finished.

They waved her goodbye as she walked away to go on shift then turned back to the conversation at hand.

"But really," Uhura continued. "I am sure there is some ship wide gossip about how Scotty and I are involved or some other such nonsense."

"Nonsense?" Scotty said, raising his eyebrows in a mock hurt fashion. "But Nyota, you said you loved me!"

"Been there, done that, iMontgomery/i."

"Why did I sit at this table?" Sulu moaned then smiled at them.

"Because we are far more fun than The Boys," Scotty said, taking a last bite of his sandwich.

"The boys?" Sulu said.

"Not your kind," Scotty said.

"How politically correct of you," Sulu replied, rolling his eyes.

Uhura smacked Scotty's arm and he grinned.

"Speaking of," Uhura said, turning to the helmsman. "I heard something about you and Lieutenant Marion."

"Don't listen to that," Sulu replied looking vaguely insulted. "He is an asshole and just likes to shoot off his mouth. Plus, I would not touch him with a fully charged phaser."

Scotty whistled. "Don't you be sounding bitter, now."

Sulu sputtered. "I was not sound… There's- there's nothing to be bitter about!"

"And now you just fuel the fire," Uhura taunted.

"I am starting a rumor that you two are sleeping together," Sulu threatened.

"Aye, please do," Scotty said, standing up. "I endorse it."

"I don't," Uhura put in then went on. "Also, I lied. That Marion rumor died a week ago. Unless you have some light you would like to shed." She fluttered her eyelashes dramatically.

"I hate you," Sulu replied.

* * *

One night, sharing a drink together, Nyota learned that Scotty was born in Aberdeen.

"Some of the best pubs to be found in the galaxy, would put me own bar to shame."

He had one younger sister who he was close to but hadn't seen in a few years.

"She's not in Starfleet but her son is; haven't really seen him since he was a cadet."

Nyota told him about learning Swahili, spiking her early interest in languages which would become a passion.

"At the time it was just a thing to do so I could understand half the people I met."

She, unlike Scotty, was an only child.

"I guess that's why I was always okay doing so much on my own up until now."

A new layer added itself to their friendship and, unexpectedly, Uhura felt like she could trust Scotty even more just because he listened to her and shared in turn. It was simple but it was real.

* * *

"Oh, come on, Lieutenant," Ensign Kobayashi said.

"Quiet, you'll distract her," Ensign Willis hissed.

"I have danced before," Uhura said as Scotty led her around to the music, hands clasped together.

"Could have fooled me," Keenser muttered.

"Oy!" Scotty snapped. "Yea all just quiet down and let me teach here."

There was a slight ripple of laughter from the peanut gallery but they quieted.

Scotty was teaching her the new wave Scottish Waltz. It was supposed to be a combination of the old Waltz, some sort of Scottish jig, and the modern style of synchronized dancing. Mostly it just felt like bounding around the room in a large box shape.

"Come on, lass," he said to her. "Stop worrying about your feet."

"Maybe I'm worrying you're going to stomp on them," she countered.

"Never!"

Uhura had to admit that once she let go it was really a lot of fun. They trotted to the right, to the left and back again. It wasn't as hard as it had seemed at first and Uhura began to feel like she knew what she was doing.

"That looks better," Kobayashi said. "You certainly don't look like a deer in shuttle lights any more."

"Why don't you try it then, Haruhi," Willis said, "if you're so graceful?"

"He has a point," Scotty quipped with a grin, twirling Nyota around.

"Hey," She snapped, pulling Scotty forward, making him stumble. "Since when was there twirling?"

"I'm improvising."

"Oh, really?"

He leaned forward into her, making her lean back. "Aye."

"Well, iaye/i, then," she mocked, reversing the move and leaning into him.

"Come on, Kobayashi Maru," Willis said holding out his hand for the woman.

"Don't call me that, Brian," she moaned, with the tone of one who knows it's never going to stop, but took his hand regardless.

"That's the spirit!" Scotty said, moving forward then back.

The music was bouncy and smooth, Scottish and classic and so like Earth it made one miss being on solid ground. The sound was full of wind instruments and strings, the old sound of Celtic pipes combined with synthesizer. Beside them, Haruhi and Brian were dancing now, steps halting and unsure but laughing with the fun of it all. It wasn't a kind of music Uhura was used to but somehow, with Scotty leading the way, dancing to it became natural.

"Best dancers in whole ship," Scotty said with a chuckle.

"That's debatable," Keenser piped up from where he sat watching.

"Or maybe just the only ones," Nyota countered, turning them around.

She smiled as Scotty shifted them and put his arm around Nyota's waist, her hand shifting to his shoulder. They turned to the right and it felt like spinning, fast and free, the two of them moving to the music with a style all their own. It was up and down and left and right and Uhura could not stop smiling, never wanting to stop.

* * *

"Does it seem to you that Uhura and Scotty have been spending a lot of time together?" Kirk said to McCoy from his Captain's chair.

McCoy looked over at him with an eyebrow raise. "No."

"I do not believe the percentage of her time spent with Mr. Scott is any higher than with any other specific member of the command staff," Spock said from where he stood beside Kirk.

"Except you."

"Don't sound so bitter, Jim," McCoy countered.

"I think she is spending a lot of time with Scotty. You should watch out, Spock," Kirk said, sounding vaguely ruffled.

Spock only raised an eyebrow at the Captain.

"You guys do know I can hear everything you are saying, right?"

The Boys turned their heads and looked at Uhura, who was leaning back in her chair facing them, arms crossed. McCoy shook his head and rolled his eyes while the Captain made a sort of 'shit-I-forgot-she-was-on-the-bridge-maybe-I-should-learn-to-speak-quietly' face. The corner of Spock's lip quirked, which Nyota knew meant that he'd realized it the whole time. She had to smile back at him.

Spock knew she loved him and that Scotty was certainly no threat. Then again, he wouldn't have thought to feel threatened in the first place. It was a state of affairs that made her feel warm and content inside. How was she so lucky to have him?

"Well," Kirk said, interrupting her look with Spock, "I like to notice what is happening on my ship."

Uhura redirected her gaze to him, furrowing her brow. "Really, Captain?"

He grinned at her. "So, are you spending more of a percentage of time with Scotty than any other specific member of the command staff?"

"I'll be sure to tally up my hours and send you a report, sir," Uhura said, swinging her chair back around so she was facing her console.

She didn't have to look to know what the surprised expression on the Captain's face was like. Chalk up a win for Nyota.

* * *

Uhura rarely got to go on any away missions on the basis that her language expertise would be required on ship should anything happen while they were away. She always thought there was probably some misguided old notion of chivalry and keeping women out of danger which really had to do with it. However, it was a point she decided to let lie on most occasions.

Then there finally came a time when she joined an away mission with none other than Scotty and two thirds of the boy trio, Spock and the Captain. The language of the locals did not seem to work through any of their mechanical translators so Uhura, the resident language genius, came along. Scotty joined the trip in an attempt to learn about the strange orb-like ships which were the design of the planet's inhabitants. It was supposed to be just another mission to further the knowledge of the Federation and intergalactic relations.

The away mission did not end up going as smoothly or peacefully as planned.

"Don't close your eyes, lass," Scotty was saying from what sounded like very far away. "Come on now, Spock and the Captain will get here and get you back to the ship."

"You don't… You need to go and…." Uhura tried to say.

Through the haze she knew that he was putting his life in danger by staying with her. It was foolish when she could feel the life slipping out of her from the bleeding hole in her side. He didn't need to die too because of her, he shouldn't.

"Don't you talk like that," Scotty said, shaking her arm.

"They'll be back," she said with all the effort she could muster, trying to sit up and make him go. "You can't stay here... They will hurt yo… They will-"

Scotty pulled her close to his chest, cutting her off. "Stop it, Uhura. I'm not leaving yea."

Then the world seemed to spin slowly away, leaving her in blackness.

When Uhura opened her eyes it was to see the shiny white ceiling of sick bay. Turning her head, the first things she saw were Spock and Scotty to her left, pacing across the room. Seeing her wake up, Spock rushed, as much as a Vulcan ever did, to her side and took her hand. He didn't say anything but kissed her quickly despite the few crew members around, relief in his eyes where only she could see it. She smiled warmly at him then turned and looked at Scotty standing a bit away.

"Thank you," she said with all the gratitude of one who knew that they would have died had it not been for the other.

He just nodded briefly then walked out, leaving her and Spock alone.

* * *

Once Uhura came down to engineering for a drink with Scotty to find that she wasn't the first one there.

"Uhura!" Scotty said upon seeing her. "Come on and join us."

Sitting beside Scotty, looking somewhat dejectedly into his glass, was Ensign Chekov. Uhura took the glass which Scotty offered her then sat beside Chekov on the catwalk.

"So, what are you in for?" She asked with a small smile.

He glanced at her quickly, then back down at his glass.

"Women troubles," Scotty supplied.

"Ah."

"Not so much troubles," said Chekov without looking up. "But lack of."

"What?"

"She turned him down," Scotty translated.

"Oh, sorry about that, Chekov," Uhura said patting his shoulder somewhat awkwardly. "I guess it just wasn't meant to be."

He gave her a skeptical look then gulped down his entire glass. Scotty whistled appreciatively and poured Chekov some more.

"She said I was too young," Chekov grumbled.

Nyota made a face but decided not to say anything. She could understand. Chekov was only eighteen now and still the youngest member of the crew. It couldn't be easy. She looked over the Russian's head at Scotty. He made a face at her and glanced quickly down at the boy as if to say: 'What do we do?' Uhura thought then turned to the helmsman.

"Well, look at this way." He looked up at her. "Being the youngest crewmember on the Enterprise, flagship of the fleet, has to count for something. It certainly shows how skilled you are."

He smiled at her. "I know that." Nyota's eyebrows flew up. "I've always been a genius at this- but just not at romance."

Uhura and Scotty could not help but laugh. Soon Chekov joined them. With a shared look the three of them knocked back their glasses, finishing their drinks. Scotty then raised his glass in a retroactive toast.

"To the Russian genius," Scotty said. "May his skills at navigation and in Starfleet soon impress upon the ladies that his age is of no importance."

Chekov snorted but smiled.

"Here, here!" Uhura said.

They clinked their empty glasses together then poured more of the clear liquid for each other.

It was a different sort of drinking night, but one worth the having.

* * *

"I'm going to get him," Scotty said as he commandeered a chair and slid it up next to Uhura's console on the bridge.

She looked around in surprise as if trying to find the source of Scotty's apparent displeasure. He leaned his elbows on her station and clasped his hands in front of his mouth, staring at the clear surface.

"Get whom?" Nyota said finally, taking her ear piece out. "And for what?"

"He thinks its funny, but he's started a war."

"Who?" Uhura pressed him.

"McCoy."

She blinked in surprise. "What?"

"Oh, yea may be surprised but the man's not all moan and grump. He's a prankster as well. Just the other week he told me I was exhibiting the signs for Gythropian flu after my away mission and I actually believed him for a full 3 hours."

"Is that why you were running around to all the replicators trying to get them to make sheep's bladder soup?"

"He said it would stop the skin rash if I ate enough."

Uhura grimaced. "Yeah, that was gross."

"So- I overrode all the tricorders in sick bay so they emitted a humming noise just barely in the human hearing spectrum; drove him mad for two days before he figured it out."

Scotty snickered, looking satisfied with himself. Then he shook his head and looked serious again.

"I thought that would be the end of it but the man is daft and now he's gone and reprogrammed the lock for my quarters so I canna get in. I'm running a diagnostic to fix it now but it'll take two hours. Two hours which he knows I have off duty right now."

"Ooo."

"See. That's a dirty trick there. This is a war."

Uhura crossed her legs. "What are you going to do?"

Scotty just smiled at her.

Later when Nyota was walking down the corridor past sick bay she heard the sound of cursing. Glancing in, she saw what appeared to be a fine coat of white dust over just about every surface in the area including the good Chief Medial Officer who was currently yelling at no one in particular, making a cloud of dust as he paced.

"…God damn it, and this is in no way hygienic! This is a sick bay where we treat people, save lives; how can this have happened? I turn away for two seconds and then its winter in North Dakota around here."

"Doctor, I don't know," Chapel said. "We can fix it, just give us fifteen minutes."

"Well, I certainly hope that no one has a heart attack or breaks five bones while walking down the corridor in the next fifteen minutes because we certainly can't treat them right now!"

Uhura decided it would be unwise to watch any longer and skirted past the entrance. A little further down the hall she saw Scotty walking toward her looking smug.

"Well?" She said.

"Just a bit of the old engineering polish powder in a cargo crate switched with the new medical supplies; can be quite a mess if you're not careful."

Uhura laughed in spite of the moral ambiguities and gave Scotty a high five as they walked past each other.

"I hope he doesn't kill you," She said over her shoulder at the Chief Engineer.

"Aye, me too!"

* * *

During one of their encounters with a Klingon war bird there was a good amount of damage done to the ship and three fatalities. Keenser was one of them.

When Nyota came down to Engineering there were still crewmen bustling about working on repairing the damage. She found Scotty sitting up on the highest catwalk with a half empty bottle of scotch next to him and a glass in his hand. She didn't speak as she sat down next to him. Seeing a second glass next to the bottle, she picked it up and poured herself a little.

Later when his head fell on to her shoulder and she felt the slight dampness of tears on her uniform, she just put her arm around his shoulders and did not let go.

* * *

The Engineers Poker Party wasn't a widely known event on the Enterprise. All of the engineers knew about it, of course, even those that did not play. However, it stayed on the Engineering deck, don't ask, don't tell. Only five or six people participated every week in Scotty's quarters and they played for keeps, betting all sorts of things: money, duty shifts, bottles, personal items.

Uhura, however, crashed it and they let her in with no debate at all. She was one of them now.

"Two pair, tens and eights."

"Oh, fuck me," Willis said, throwing his cards down.

"Scotty, I know you are cheating," Lieutenant Morgan growled.

"Get tae!" Scotty said, picking up his winnings. "You just need to learn how to bluff."

"That iwas/i three wins in a row, Scotty," Uhura said cocking her head.

"Back stabber."

Uhura shrugged.

"That's why I folded," Kobayashi said waving her hands. "He had that little smirk. The 'ha ha, I win' smirk that he gets when he fixes the port nacelles."

The other three looked at Scotty. He just shrugged back innocently.

"I donna know what you mean."

"I am getting my pocket watch back," Willis said. "That thing can tell you Earth time and space time and be calibrated to read the time of the closest planet all at once, you know."

Scotty grinned. "Aye and it's mine now."

"You shouldn't have bet it, Brian," Haruhi said. "I told you not to bring it so you wouldn't do this. You're not getting it back."

"Maybe I'm going to win it," Uhura said.

"This is going to be a fight, I can tell," Morgan said with his chin in his hand.

"Would you deal?" Willis said, looking like he was getting ready for a race.

"All right then, laddy!" Scotty said, shuffling the cards. "But you're just going to lose your alpha shift assignment for next week as well."

"We'll see."

Scotty and Uhura locked eyes for a moment across the table, both smirking.

"Better be prepared then," Uhura said turning her gaze to Willis. "Because I have a gamma shift which you will get when I win your alpha."

"Confident, are we?" Willis countered.

"Do I really want to play this round?" Morgan said looking between them.

Scotty lay a card down in from of Morgan. "Too late now."

When the cards were dealt, the exchanges made, bets placed, and hands finally shown, it was in fact Nyota Uhura who came out victorious. To the victor went the spoils of a change to alpha shift, with some clever rearranging, from Ensign Willis, a new pair of jade earrings off of Ensign Kobayashi, her own personal bottle of old Jack Whiskey from Scotty, and a Vulcan chess set from Lt. Morgan.

"Where did you get that, anyhow?" Haruhi asked Morgan.

"I like the game."

"Going to give that to your man?" Scotty said with a wicked glint in his eye.

Uhura only gave him a withering stare and took her winnings.

Scotty held on to the pocket watch until the next game when Willis won it back again. Uhura did end up giving Spock the chess set as a present, after extracting the promise that he teach her how to play. The bottle of whiskey she shared with Scotty because, after all, who else would she ever drink with?

* * *

Nyota and Scotty sat on the catwalk, glasses in hand and backs against the hull. It was delta shift and only the bare minimum of crew members were around the deck working quietly. Neither of them was on duty again until beta shift but sleeping was not the plan just then.

It had been a good day- no fights, no attacks, no diplomatic incidents to fix or wars to evade or alien plagues to cure, just a beautiful nebula and one M-class planet with lush forests. Now it was a quiet night to spend with a friend. The two of them sat together, not speaking, but they had reached the point where that was okay. They were friends who could sit together in silence and not feel the need to fill the space.

Scotty took a sip of his drink and held up the glass before his face, gazing at the brown liquid. Then he turned his head to look at Uhura beside him.

"I'm glad you came down for a drink," he said softly.

Nyota smiled at him, knowing that he wasn't talking about that night.

"Me too, Scotty," She replied and clinked her glass lightly against his.


End file.
